List of the 12 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in South Africa

1. Third Wave Distribution

Third Wave Distribution was formed in July 2016 with the intention of importing exceptional electronics products into South Africa. In a short space of time, they have grown to distribute over 25 brands comprising of over 400 different products in multiple categories. They offer cutting-edge products and brands that have not found their way to South African shores. Selected products are sent to their office in Shenzhen, China where they undergo quality control and then finally shipped to their warehouse in Cape Town.

Third-wave distribution dropshipping in South Africa work by distributing their products on Dropstore and having them delivered directly to clients.

Dropshipping in South Africa of exceptional electronics products is majorly done by them. Usually, the delivery takes 2-4 day working days depending on where the delivery is.

2. Men's Republic Distributors

Dropshipping South Africa is made easy by these guys. They have over 80 products and when you post an order, packing slip or sales invoice, they pack the items from them. They include them in the package, without adding any Men’s Republic materials. They ship your order as per your request. Status updates and tracking information is always sent to you once the order has been dispatched.

3. Calasca

Calasca is undoubtedly one of the biggest dropshipping suppliers in South Africa with over 1000 products. Dropshipping South Africa would not even be possible without these guys. They offer everything from homeware, kitchenware, kids & toys, outdoor, pet, luggage/travel, solar, beauty and baby.

When it comes to dropshipping products in South Africa, they supply fresh, innovative, quality products, that are both trending and functional. It is a privately-owned company with strong financial support and background.

Calasca offers 2 ways to dropship within South Africa with them; through their reseller program which is free but requires you to open an account and be approved for credit or through Dropstore which is the easier option but pricing can start from R99.

4. Planet54

Planet54 is undoubtedly the number one dropshipper in South Africa when it comes to clothing accessories with over 7000 products. Planet54 is an exclusive dropshipping supplier. According to their site, they currently supply over 100 online stores in Africa from South Africa. They offer 3 - 5 days delivery to dropshipping clients.

In order to dropship products from Planet54, you can either be part of their reseller entrepreneurship programme which gives you access to thousands of products sold on Planet54 or source Planet54 products on Dropstore. Dropshipping with planet54 directly allows you to easily dropship on Whatsapp and Facebook while Dropshipping with Planet54 via Dropstore will allow you to easily Dropship via your own website.

5. The Scents

By using The Scents dropshipping program, you will be granted access to their complete wholesale inventory ranging from genuine fragrances, skincare products, hair care products, makeups and candles. They offer state – of- art fulfilment capabilities.

Shipping charges within South Africa start at R50 and with each additional item, it will attract an additional R20 shipping charge.

All orders are placed online on their website. Don’t worry about your financial information as it is protected by their secure server software. Which is fully encrypted so that it cannot be read by anyone over the internet.

Once the order is placed The Scents Bay will supply you with a tracking number for your order that has been shipped. Every day you will receive an automated email notification informing you the order shipped.

Once the orders are placed, they are shipped within the first 24 – 48 business hours from the time they were placed. So averagely most orders are received within the 4 -7 business days from the time that you placed the order.

Payments can be done can be carried through a credit card or wired through specific South African Banks.

6. Dropstore

Dropstore is rated as number one in the list of drop shipping companies. Dropshipping suppliers in South Africa are few, but when it comes to the best, Dropstore is the right dropshipper that you need. Dropstore has the largest dropshipping catalogue in South Africa and uses eCommerce plugin technology which allows you to easily import products into your e-commerce stores and then ship them directly to your customers.

[caption id="attachment_8689" align="aligncenter" width="787"] How does Dropstore work?[/caption]

Dropstore auto integrates with platforms such as Shopify and woocommerce. Through this integration, your product inventory and pricing will be kept up to date. Orders from your store are also imported into Dropstore so that the supplier can ship the order and add the tracking details for automatic order fulfilment. The track detail is then emailed to your customer automatically so that your customer can have a smooth online shopping experience while also saving you a lot of time from repetitive tasks.

Dropstore understands that sometimes finding the right supplier for your products can be challenging that’s why they have their own list of over 200 verified suppliers (and growing) who provide the highest quality services and you can buy what you need at wholesale price with Zero Minimum Order Quantity.

Dropstore will help you find the best product to dropship and sell online by connecting you to suppliers across South Africa. When you go through dropstore, you will find a large variety of products, from which you can add to your easily with only a few clicks.

7. Gadgetgyz

Gadgetgyz Online is a Capetown based South African gadget online store. They keep a range of Android phones, accessories, smartwatches and gadgets from brands like OnePlus, Cubot, Ulefone, Xiaomi and more!

Gadgetgyz is a verified Dropshipping Supplier on Dropstore South African dropshipping marketplace. Their delivery system is fast and takes approximately 3- 4 business day to deliver. You will also be provided with all the tracking information once your customer orders are dispatched.

8. Neatfreak

Niche is a Durban based supplier that provides its customers with all the ‘tools’ required to organise their space and their life.

As a provider of niche products, Neat Freak does not hold all it's stock on-hand for immediate delivery. Why? The short story is they aren’t a massive online retailer with millions in funding so they use their money wisely on products they know you want. In short, some of their products are dropshipped so you'll need to inquire from them for the time frame of the products listed on their website if it is not already stated.

9. Shopstar

Shopstar is South African eCommerce platform which is similar to Shopify but they also have a built-in Shopstar Dropshipping marketplace for South African dropshippers. Shopstar sources dropship products from South African Dropship Suppliers and has over 900 products.

In order to source from Shopstar, you must first have a Shopstar store which pricing starts from R 220/month for up to 25 products. Then you can browse products on Shopstar Marketplace and choose the ones that suit your business. Once you sell products from your store, without ever having to stock or handle items they will then notify the supplier. The supplier will ship the product to your customer and you get a commission for the sale and the supplier gets paid for selling their product.

10. Wheelatrend (Print on Demand Dropship Supplier)

Wheelatrend is a South African Print on demand Dropship supplier. They found their niche space in the market by focusing more on printed merchandise. They offer dropshipping of their products directly through their website and when you join as a reseller for a once-off fee of just R95, you will be able to buy products at wholesale pricing as well.

Wheelatrend can also be found on Dropstore so that you can easily load their products to your online store and automate inventory updates, pricing, automate dropshipping order fulfilment.

11. Cosmic Pets

Cosmic Pets is a dropshipping wholesale distribution company in South Africa and exclusively supply pet shops, vet clinics and pet care professionals such as groomers, pet sitters, boarding kennels and breeders.

FAQs of dropshipping in South Africa

Q: Can you dropship products from Aliexpress and through Shopify to customers in South Africa?

A: Shopify has made dropshipping even more fun. For just one or two days, you can have finalized all the requirements required to create your own Shopify website.  After this, you can successfully start dropshipping from Aliexpress through the Oberlo app. So, yes even in South Africa you can use Shopify to drop ship products from Aliexpress to your customer.

Q: What do I need, to start a dropshipping business in south Africa?

A: If you want to start a dropshipping business in South Africa, I will highly urge you to concentrate on online dropshipping. What do you need?

· Select a Niche

Select a niche that is profitable and also let it be something you are interested in. You need to find a product niche that is laser-focused. A product niche that is not focused might prove to be difficult to market. Dropshipping is difficult hence it can be really discouraging if you pick a niche that you are uncomfortable with.

· Competition Research

Look for a competitive product. When a product is competitive it means it has high demand, high profits and is sustainable.  Don’t be afraid to compete with other dropshipping companies or established retailers such as Takealot and Bidorbuy. Don’t go for products that have no competition, that’s what has killed a lot of dropshipping business.

· Look For supplier

In dropshipping, you want to find a trustworthy and reliable supplier. By partnering with the wrong supplier, the chances of your business being ruined are high. Take your time and don’t rush. Research and find the right supplier who will be able to keep with your demands and can maintain continuous communications.

· Build an E-commerce website

Having a website can increase your business operations and profits.  With the existence of Dropstore and Shopify, you can have a running website within a day. When money starts flowing, then you can easily go for more website creation and customization options.

· Gain Traction

Having a great website and the right products are good. But at the same time are useless if you don’t have customers.  So, create a plan for acquisition of customers. Think short and long term so that you can have an efficient and continuous customer flow. Short-term: Utilize an email list or Instagram influencers. Long term Utilization of Facebook ad campaigns, Google Adwords, Email marketing, Content marketing and SEO marketing will be advantageous on your quest for dropshipping success.

· Analyze and Optimize

Always track data and metrics available to grow your business. By tracking customer conversation, you will be able to know the path they took to your website that eventually led to a sale. This will enable you to evaluate what works and what doesn’t.

Q: What are the popular products that hot- sale products that you can for dropshipping in 2020?

A: Here are some potential hot-sale products:

1. Ride-on-toys

2. Patio Furniture

3. Smart Watches

4. Jewellery Cabinets

5. Wireless charger

6. Weight-Loss Creams

7. Whitening Creams

8. Home Decor Shelves

9. Card Playing Games

10. Car accessories

Conclusion

From this article, you have seen that dropshipping in South Africa is very successful. You just have to choose the right site to dropship from. Dropshipping is still new in South Africa and hence the market is full of opportunities, it is just up to you to utilize it.